


love will not break your heart but dismiss your fears

by cresswell



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Hurt Isaac, M/M, Pack Cuddles, Pack Feels, Protective Scott
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-19 03:06:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/878692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cresswell/pseuds/cresswell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I think he’s alive,” Scott says softly, and he doesn’t know if it’s a lie. “Derek’s a fighter. I feel like we would know if he was dead, you know?” </p>
<p>“Yeah,” Isaac says, voice very soft. “Maybe.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	love will not break your heart but dismiss your fears

Scott walks into Derek’s apartment just as Boyd’s adding another tally mark to the doorframe with his claw. “Don’t mind me. I was just on my way out.” 

“You really can stay here,” Scott offers, heart dropping as he counts the tally marks. Not that he actually needs to count, because he knows off the top of his head how many there are. 13. 

Boyd just shakes his head, letting his claw slide back in and hoisting a backpack over his shoulder. “Just need to clear my head.” 

Scott nods, saying no more, and watches him leave. Allison, Isaac, and Stiles are sitting on the one carpet in the place, textbooks and notebooks and pens all around. He walks over to the big window overlooking the city, a smile tugging on his lips when he sees Isaac’s little nook next to the windowsill. He had never asked Isaac what exactly made Derek want to throw him out- Isaac probably didn’t even know- and now that the apartment was empty (except for Cora, on the nights when she wasn’t mysteriously “out”) Isaac would barely leave it. 

“Scott, what does _benevolent_ mean?” When Scott turns, Stiles is straining his neck to see over the top of the couch, a stack of notecards in his hand. “Because Allison says it means, like, _good_ , but it sounds a lot like _violent_ , so I don’t think-“ 

“Well then just look in the dictionary!” Allison huffs, crossing her arms. “You should know this by now, Stiles. We covered SAT words last year.”

 “I was a little preoccupied with Scott’s werewolfiness last year, in case you didn’t know,” Stiles replies, flinging the notecard aside. “Next word. Here, Isaac, you go.”

 “ _Desolate_ ,” Isaac reads, voice slurred with sleepiness. Allison frowns, lifting her eyes to Scott’s, who just shrugs. “That’s _empty_ , right?” 

“Right!” Stiles beams at him, reaching out for a high five. The werewolf just reclines back onto the couch, his ankles peeking over the arm, and turns his back to them. “I’m a little tired.” 

Allison stands, her books in hand. “Me, too. Stiles, we should go.” When he looks like he wants to argue, she gives Isaac’s back a pointed look. “Come on. I’ll buy you McDonald’s or something.” 

They leave, Allison throwing one last worried glance at Scott before the door closes, and Isaac shifts on the couch. “Do we have any advil?” 

“Let me check,” Scott says, walking into the kitchen and opening the cupboard with the medicines. He takes two pills and fills up a glass with water, setting them down on the table in front of the sofa. Isaac props up on his elbows and downs them in one sip, running the back of his hand over his mouth when he’s done. 

“Isaac,” Scott begins, picking his words carefully. “Are you okay? I mean, obviously not, because none of us are, but I just mean-“ he drops his shoulders. “You seem to be taking it the worst.” 

Isaac shrugs, eyelashes standing out against his pale skin. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He squints his eyes at Scott, studying him. “Do you think- do you think he-“ 

“I think he’s alive,” Scott says softly, and he doesn’t know if it’s a lie. “Derek’s a fighter. I feel like we would _know_ if he was dead, you know?” 

“Yeah,” Isaac says, voice very soft. “Maybe.” 

He falls quiet then, and Scott tries desperately to think of something right to say. “You don’t have to stay here all the time.” 

“I like it here,” Isaac replies, fingers pulling on the fringe on the blanket he has wrapped around him. “It feels like home.”

Scott smiles, a little sadly. “Derek’s gonna kill us when he smells Stiles and Allison all over here.” 

This gets a laugh from Isaac, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. “Allison, she smells like spice, like kitchen spices. Her smell is everywhere.” It’s true. Scott smells her all over. “And Stiles smells like fresh laundry and fresh air.” 

“They both smell nice,” Scott agrees, smiling. 

“You smell like new wood,” Isaac adds, quiet, almost as an afterthought. He looks away after saying it, twisting the fringe in his fingers. 

Scott considers this. “You smell like… the smell right after a rain.” 

Isaac gives him a small smile, pulling the blanket up to his chin. “Have you eaten dinner yet?” His tone is polite and casual but Scott knows it’s him asking if he’s allowed to eat. It makes him so sick and angry, knowing that his father had such a traumatic impact on him. 

“I have but I’d be more than happy to go get you something,” Scott says, standing up before Isaac can even answer. 

Isaac widens his eyes. “Oh, no, I mean- I mean, yes, I’m hungry, but-“ He bites his lip. “Do you think maybe you could make something here? I don’t really want to be alone again.” 

Scott nods, feeling sad all over again, and walks towards the kitchen. “My pleasure.”

 

•

 

Convincing Isaac to leave Derek's flat gets progressively more and more difficult, to the point where he stops going to school, goes scarily pale from the lack of sunlight. Scott and Allison discuss it in hushed tones behind closed doors, throwing worried glances to where Stiles is trying to get Isaac to pick a movie.

"I've never seen him this bad," Allison says, dark eyes concerned. "You've known him longer, but still. What do you think we should do?"

"I'm not sure there's much we _can_ do," Scott confesses, watching Stiles point at the screen and Isaac shaking his head. "I think the only thing that would get him to snap out of it would be some sort of confirmation that Derek's alive."

Allison chews on her lip. "Which we can't exactly get."

Scott's silence is confirmation enough.

 

•

 

"Why does it affect Isaac the most?" Stiles asks one day when they're at their lockers, grabbing their things and heading out. "Wouldn't it affect, like Cora the most? She's his sister, after all. And Boyd doesn't look much better, but at least he goes to school and things. And you seem to be faring the best. So why Isaac?"

"He's Isaac," Scott answers. "He's, like, super attached to all of the pack. You and Allison, too, I bet. Derek plucked him out of a really shitty life and we're the only good family he's ever known."

Stiles has to go meet his dad at the precinct, and Allison is with Lydia, so Scott heads back to Derek's flat. Isaac, much to Scott's surprise, is sitting on the windowsill, a large notebook in his lap. He jumps when Scott walks in, as if he somehow didn't hear him walking up. "I'm sorry, it was just lying around and it's blank so I thought-"

"It's okay," Scott says, voice gentle, and Isaac relaxes visibly. "Drawing?"

"Um, yeah," Isaac flushes, looking down at the page he's on. Cora told me it helps with grief." He swallows. "Or whatever this is."

Scott raises his eyebrows, surprised. "Cora came by?"

Isaac nods. "She comes by during the day sometimes. She says it's to pick things up and drop things off, but I think she's monitoring me or something."

"I can monitorf you just fine," Scott tries to sound casual but Isaac's raised eyebrows tell him he failed. "Just- I don't trust Cora. Derek doesn't trust her either, I think. And I don't think you should."

"Okay," Isaac's voice is small, his pencil hovering mid-stroke. "Thanks."

 

•

 

It's Friday night and normally Scott would be doing something, but Stiles is still keeping his dad company and Allison and Lydia are having a girl's night, so Scott stays to keep Isaac company. They find a show on TV about two brothers who hunt things, and Scott gets so into it that he almost doesn't realize Isaac's fallen asleep on the couch with his hand in the popcorn bowl.

Scott lets him sleep, because even though that's all he's been doing lately, he knows Isaac needs it. Derek might not be dead, but Isaac is grieving- Scott recognizes the signs from when Stiles' mother died. One of the brothers onscreen is shoving furniture against the door of a closet a werewolf girl is stuck in. Scott frowns. 

Isaac gaps suddenly, eyes shooting open, his spine curling and his knees and hands pulling in close to his face, shutting himself in. Scott touches his shoulder, heart pounding. "Isaac? What's wrong?"

Isaac shakes his head, wrists pressed to his eyes. He feels on fire through the fabric of his shirt where Scott's hand is. "Nothing- I- sorry-"

"No, no," Scott says, keeping his voice soft. He gently eases Isaac's arms away from his face and sees there's blood on his palms from where his claws had dug in. "Oh, Isaac. What is it?"

"Just- um-" Isaac shakes his head, sitting up and scooting further away down the couch. "Just a bad dream. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Scott says, watching the skin on Isaac's palms slowly dry and seal. "Do you want me to go?"

"No!" Isaac says, eyes wide, before flushing slightly. "I... I don't get nightmares when someone else sleeps with me." He begins playing with the blanket's fringe again. "Erica used to, but..."

Scott suddenly feels warm, trying to process the request. "I- yeah, yeah, of course," he says, and eases himself into the space between Isaac's back and the back of the couch. Isaac is muscled and toned but he's mostly bone, his hips too small against Scott's and his shoulders too thin underneath Scott's arms. Scott gets an ankle between both of Isaac's, his arm tossed over the blonde wolf's shoulder. He can feel Isaac's heartbeat against his palm.

"Thanks," Isaac says, voice very soft, and Scott presses his face into his hair. He really _does_ smell like the rain, but Scott thinks he also smells like something else- like vanilla, or cinnamon, or something else sweet.


End file.
